Jack Abramoff Offers Crash Course in Combating Corruption

What can USF students studying government relations learn
from “the most evil lobbyist in Washington”?

As it turns out, a lot.

Disgraced super lobbyist Jack Abramoff — the man at the center
of one of the biggest government corruption scandals in recent history — gave a lecture
to 75 USF students, faculty, and staff on June 6.

“There are few people on the planet who are more qualified
to discuss lobbying than Jack Abramoff,” said Alex Clemens, a lecturer in the
Master of Public Affairs and Practical Politics Program (MoPA). “He reached the
highest pinnacle of the American lobbying industry and also fell the furthest.
He knows it from the inside. He knows how ethical and unethical people operate
in the system.”

Clemens, who founded San Francisco public affairs firm
Barbary Coast Consulting, invited Abramoff to speak to students in his Lobbying
and Governmental Affairs class. The event was also open to the USF community
and the public.

In his talk, Abramoff recounted his now-legendary lobbying
exploits as one of K Street’s highest paid powerbrokers. Abramoff’s candid
description of the congressional underbelly, a marketplace where political
favors were bought and sold, was eye opening for Davi Lang MoPA ’13.

“I had no idea the extent to which money was involved, with
sporting events and schmoozing,” Lang said. “The system is broken, and it needs
to be fixed.”

Abramoff says that for a long time he believed what he was
doing was right. It took a very public fall from grace and 43 months in federal
prison for conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and tax evasion for him to take a
hard look at himself.

“The person that knows they’re doing wrong has a chance to
stop. The guy who thinks he’s doing right is never going to stop,” Abramoff
said. “Had this not happened, I would be doing it right now.”

“Do
women lobbyists face certain obstacles that men lobbyists do not?” she asked.

Abramoff paused. “I’ve never been asked that. That’s an
interesting question,” he admitted. “I never thought about this before and
shame on me for not thinking about it, but I think women are at an immense
disadvantage in the lobbying game.”

He later added that he believed that having more women in
the political process would make the system less corrupt.

For many of the students, hearing Washington’s most vilified
lobbyist speak so openly about his past gave them an understanding of just how
complex and tricky addressing corruption is.

“I think it was a really unique event for them because it’s
someone who’s been on what we think of as the evil side of politics and
lobbying. There’s something that goes on in your mind when you’re looking at
someone who you think of as bad,” said Jelena Hasbrouck MoPA ’12, a lecturer in
the Master of Public Affairs and Practical Politics Program. “It’s illuminating
that there’s a lot more to public affairs and politics than good and evil.”